Kings rookie Tyrese Haliburton expected to miss rest of regular season due to knee injury
Kings guard Tyrese Haliburton suffered no structural damage when he injured his knee in Sunday’s game against the Dallas Mavericks, but with only seven games remaining his impressive rookie campaign is probably over.
The Kings provided an update on Haliburton’s injury following a 103-99 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday at Chesapeake Energy Arena. The team said an MRI revealed no ligament damage in his injured knee. The injury was diagnosed as a hypertension of the left knee.
Haliburton will not need surgery and is expected to make a complete recovery, the team said. He will miss the remainder of the regular season but will participate in normal offseason training.
“I look at it as good news because a lot of us were scared when we saw it happen,” Kings coach Luke Walton said. after Tuesday’s game “It didn’t look great. We’ll miss him down the stretch of this season, but for him to have a full, healthy offseason to really get after it is going to be huge for us.”
The Kings (28-37) have won three in a row and four of their last five to get within 3 ½ games of the San Antonio Spurs for the final play-in spot in the Western Conference. San Antonio has a much more daunting schedule than Sacramento over the final two weeks, but the Kings would also have to leapfrog the New Orleans Pelicans to reach the play-in tournament.
Walton did not rule out the possibility of a return for Haliburton if the Kings somehow reach the postseason.
“As the days go by, we’ll have a much better understanding of when he’ll be able to do basketball activities, but from what I’ve been told, for the remainder of the regular season, he’s done,” Walton said.
Haliburton remained with the team and was seen on the bench during Tuesday’s game against the Thunder, at times up on his feet cheering for teammates and walking without the use of crutches. When asked before the game if the team had ruled out any tears or structural damage, Walton said: “That will all be out there in the medical update. I’ll just continue to say we are optimistic about it.”
Delon Wright will start at point guard in the absence of Haliburton and De’Aaron Fox, who has been under NBA health and safety protocols for 11 days. Walton indicated Fox will be back no sooner than Friday, when the Kings return to Sacramento to face the Spurs, but Walton hasn’t ruled out the possibility of Fox missing the rest of the season.
“There’s no update other than he’s still in the health and safety protocol and he’s clearly not with us on this trip,” Walton said. “We have tonight’s game and tomorrow night’s game (against the Indiana Pacers) then we’ll get back home and see where he’s at.”
Wright put up impressive numbers with 13 points, 10 rebounds, eight assists, four steals and four blocked shots in the win over Oklahoma City. Wright has been a nice addition since coming to Sacramento in a trade deadline deal with the Detroit Pistons.
“I was starting with Detroit the whole year so I’m comfortable with starting,” Wright said. “When Ty went down, I knew I was going to be stepping into a starting role with more minutes and more opportunities. I just knew I would have to be ready.”
When asked if he was preparing for the possibility of starting Wright for the remainder of the season, Walton said: “For the immediate future, for sure. He’s QB1 right now so we’ll prep him accordingly and we’ll see where we are as we move forward in these final eight games.”
The Kings have won three of their last four games despite being shorthanded, including two wins over the Mavericks and one over the Los Angeles Lakers. Fox has missed six games since entering health and safety protocols April 23. Harrison Barnes has missed four games with left adductor tightness and Chimezie Metu has missed two games with lower back soreness after taking a scary fall in Friday’s 110-106 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Kings selected Haliburton out of Iowa State with the No. 12 pick in the 2020 NBA Draft. He quickly acclimated himself to the NBA game, winning Western Conference Rookie of the Month honors for December/January and February to establish himself as an early leader in the Rookie of the Year race.
Haliburton has appeared in 58 games, averaging 13.0 points, 5.3 assists, 3.0 rebounds and 1.3 steals while shooting 47.2% from the field and 40.9% from 3-point range. Haliburton averaged 17.0 points and 8.2 assists as the team’s starting point guard over the past five games with Fox out of the lineup.
LaMelo Ball of the Charlotte Hornets, Anthony Edwards of the Minnesota Timberwolves and Haliburton have been widely regarded as the leading candidates for the Rookie of the Year award. Missing the end of the season will cost Haliburton an opportunity to vault himself to the top of that list, but he will almost certainly be an NBA All-Rookie First Team selection.
This story was originally published May 4, 2021 at 8:51 PM.
